500!

It seems like only yesterday we put up our first post about extending my secondment for another year, so it feels right that we should announce yet another year-long secondment extension on this, our 500th post. That's right folks, we've written 500 posts already, and for those of you who were paying attention, we made references to poop and/or The Smurfs in every single one. Go back and try to find them all!

In celebration of our 500th post, we thought it would be interesting to list some of the noteworthy events that occurred on this day in history, as well as provide you with an update on how things have been since our last entry. Here's a sampling of the historical events that took place on this day:

1804 - At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor, confirming his psychiatrist's theory that short people with big egos are not to be fucked around with.
1823 - President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing the Monroe Doctrine of American neutrality in future European conflicts, a doctrine that unfortunately did not also apply to Asian, Middle Eastern, African and South American conflicts.
1845 - President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should fulfill its "Manifest Destiny" by aggressively expanding into the West. Manifest Destiny was later expanded to include Vietnam, Iraq, Guantanamo, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and wherever else McDonalds' or Starbucks has a franchise.
1852 - Napoleon III becomes emperor. Fortunately, all nations have since avoided France's error of appointing as head of state an unpopular and incapable relative of a previous leader.
1939 - New York City's La Guardia Airport opens; many travellers from that year can still be found in line to this day.
1954 - The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The 22 senators who voted in support of McCarthy went on to produce the Christian Coalition, HMOs, the anti-gay marriage movement and "Gigli".
1970 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations and promptly goes on break.
1972 - Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba. Prominent facial hair and cigar smoking immediately come back into fashion.
2001 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. America collectively thinks to itself, "Oh, shit."

Now that we've gotten the history lesson out of the way, here's what's been going on in our neck of the woods. My closing got pushed back again until next week, so I decided to work from home on Thurday and Friday to help Pegs out with The Hybrid. Considering that I accidentally stapled a diaper to Sofia's head and almost sat on her (twice), I'm not sure how much help I was, but it was nice to spend some time with my ladies. Speaking of ladies, both Rita Charon and Kathryn Schwesinger paid us visits this week and brought lovely presents for Sofia, which she definitely looks forward to wearing and/or using in the coming months. My partner also offered to give us some of their old baby stuff (like a high chair, swinging chair and an exercise saucer), so altogether Sofia had a pretty good week.

Sofia has grown a bunch in the last week; some of her clothes are already too tight and the pediatrician said that she's well above her birth weight and at least a few centimeters longer than her initial measurements from the hospital. She's also able to focus more on bright, shiny objects like lamps, windows and my nose, and is even starting to smile a little while awake. I'm sure that the latter is more of an involuntary reflex than a conscious expression of emotion, but we'll take what we can get.

Aside from the fatigue, changing hormones and frustration of dealing with not one but two babies (myself included), Pegs is doing well. We had a visit with our OB/GYN yesterday, whose main counsel was to get as much sleep and rest as possible, since everything else looked good. We've ordered an electric milk pump which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to help out with some of the late night feedings and give Pegs a chance to crash for more than two hours at a stretch.

All in all, we're tired but happy in the Alexanderpool household. Here are some pictures of the cuteness for your viewing pleasure.